This invention is directed to an enclosed clutch for a piercing earring, and in particular to a disposable earlobe piercing earring and blind clutch cartridge.
The most recent prior art ear piercing systems are of two types, namely cartridge housed earrings and open earrings. Both types operate by inserting a pointed earring or stud through the earlobe and into an open ended clutch. The earring and clutch remain in place four to six weeks until the hole produced is healed.
Three prior art references, namely U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,004,470, 5,007,918 and 5,263,960 issued to Samuel J. Mann, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, introduced disposable, cartridge housed earrings of several different and random shaped styles featuring enclosure or encapsulation of the earring so that the earring may not be touched before or during the piercing process. The earring clutches are housed in a separate cartridge and are not totally encapsulated, but do, however, make direct contact with the operator difficult, but not impossible. When utilizing these prior art systems, both earring cartridges and clutch cartridges are inserted into a piercing instrument. This piercing instrument is of simple design and retains the cartridge within slide tracks. The earlobe is placed in the gap between the ear piercing earring cartridge and the clutch cartridge. The plunger is displaced into the earring cartridge, ejecting the earring out of the cartridge, through the earlobe, and into the clutch, automatically releasing the clutch from the cartridge, completing the piercing process. In order to form a second piercing hole, both the earring cartridge and clutch cartridge are removed from the instrument, inverted, and the process is repeated. In the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,470 the stud cartridge and clutch cartridge are not removed, but are slid within the car piercing instrument to place the non-ejected earring in piercing position.
These prior art devices have been satisfactory. However, they suffer from the disadvantage that the disposable cartridges which prevent contact between each person and the instrument do not fully cover the piercing area of the instrument itself which is proximate to the earlobe, allowing potential for contamination from blood splash or the like. Additionally, because the cartridge must be inverted or slid by hand by the piercing instrument operator, the cartridges are still excessively handled exposing the cartridges to contamination from the operator and vice versa as well as the susceptibility of being dropped. This is particularly significant when handling the clutch cartridge in which the clutches are exposed to some extent and may even be touched during handling.
In order to overcome these deficiencies, ear piercing apparatuses set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,390,394 and 5,350,394, issued to Mann, have been proposed, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In these systems, the piercing earring and clutch are contained in an enclosed system. Therefore, the piercing operation can be performed without the operator contacting the piercing earring or clutch.
However, these prior art systems still have a number of drawbacks. First, the sliding clamp requires a more complicated and costly apparatus. Second, after piercing the user's ear, the piercing earring will not be flush against the user's ear, requiring the user or the person being pierced to reposition the earring after piercing. Additionally, in the prior art cartridge after piercing, the pivoting or sliding clamp will still be holding the ear of the user, trapping the ear in the instrument. Finally, since the cartridge holding the piercing earring is hinged at the back thereof, the cartridge could have a tendency to open prior to its reaching the proper position.
A further deficiency in the prior art ear piercing cartridge assemblies is that the clutch 36 as shown in FIG. 8 is an open back clutch. Piercing pinpoint 55c of a piercing earring 55 is exposed and can cause user discomfort. That is, the prior art clutch permits the sharp point of the earring post to protrude past the open ended wings 37 of the clutch 36, thereby causing discomfort to the wearer as the point will contact the skin when the wearer sleeps or places their ear against a surface. Furthermore, for the hole in the earlobe to properly heal an airspace around the ear must be provided. Often the user will intentionally or accidentally push the clutch against the ear preventing air circulation and the resultant proper healing.
Accordingly, an ear piercing instrument and cartridge which eliminates earring handling, reduces the pain associated with the piercing operation, provides easy removal of the piercing instrument after performance of the piercing operation by retracting the capsule, properly locates the piercing earring with respect to the user's ear through a simple, unitary construction and prevents the sharp point of the earring post from contacting the wearer and overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art is desired.